Research Symposium

BIO

Francesca Maresma is a first-year Honors student at Florida State University majoring in Finance and Management from Miami, Florida. After completing my undergraduate studies, Francesca plans to attend law school and pursue an MBA in order to build a career in corporate and contracting law. Her interest in research began in high school when she completed a Capstone program focused on parent–child relationships. This experience sparked Francesca's interest in continuing research in college, ideally in the same area of study. At Florida State University, she is continuing this interest through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP). Her current research project examines the momentary effects of parental stress on parenting and children’s self-regulation. After this year, she plans to continue working on this project with Dr. Longfeng Li and the HDFS Child Development Lab while further exploring research related to family and child development.

Momentary Effects of Parental Stress on Parenting and Children’s Self-Regulation

Abstract

Parental stress plays a critical role in shaping parenting behaviors and children’s self-regulation. However, most prior studies have relied on cross-sectional designs and overlooked how everyday, temporary stressors influence parents and children, particularly within higher-risk families. To address this gap and inform prevention efforts, we examined how temporary fluctuations in parental stress shaped parents’ immediate interactions with their preschool-aged children and children’s momentary self-regulation. This work aims to support the development of targeted, evidence-based interventions to buffer families from the adverse consequences of daily stress. We hypothesized that greater parental stress would be negatively associated with parenting behaviors and children’s self-regulation. Participants were 15 mother-child dyads from higher-risk families in Florida with children aged 2.5 to 3.5 years. Mothers completed an initial survey, followed by brief ecological momentary assessment (EMA) surveys three times daily (morning, afternoon, evening) for 21 days. EMA surveys assessed parental stress, parenting behaviors (i.e., how well they were getting along with their child), and children’s self-regulation of emotion, behavior, and attention. Multilevel models revealed negative within-dyad associations between parental stress and both parenting behaviors and children’s self-regulation (ps < .05). At moments when parents experienced higher-than-usual stress, they were less likely to report getting along well with their child and more likely to report difficulties in their child’s self-regulation. These findings highlight the dynamic, interrelated nature of parental stress, parenting behaviors, and children’s self-regulation in daily life, suggesting that family-system approaches designed to buffer families from everyday stress may be especially beneficial for higher-risk families.

Keywords: Stress in Children and Self-Regulation